[1919 Autograph Letter Signed by General Sir Edmund Allenby, on Active Service in France]

[Deauville, France, circa September 11, 1919]. [1]p. ALS. 12mo. On Hotel Deauville stationery with perforated and gummed edges. Postmarked "Deauville, Calvados, 19:45 [P.M.], 11-9-19" with manuscript note in French: "à Active Service." Fold; lacking right perforated margin and with some separation at left, neither affecting text; some smudging, just touching autograph; Very Good.

Brief letter written by British General Sir Edmund Allenby (1861-1936) to his mother at the family home, Felixstowe House, Felixstowe, Suffolk, England.

At this time, Allenby was on active service in Deauville, France to confer with British Prime Minister David Lloyd George about the Middle East situation following the First World War. Notably, Allenby campaigned during the war in the Middle East, liaising with allied Arab forces directed by Colonel T. E. Lawrence better-known as "Lawrence of Arabia."

Here, General Allenby writes to his mother, Catherine Anne née Cane Allenby, expressing his hope to visit England (in full):

My dear Mother, We go to Paris tomorrow but I still see no hope of getting away until next Tuesday. Weather is quite hot; as hot as Alexandria [Egypt], but less damp. I am hoping to get home; and horribly angered by this delay. Your loving son, Edmund

It is interesting that Allenby writes of being "horribly angered." As has been previously noted by academic scholarship, when Allenby "assumed senior command his withering temper, imposing physical presence (matched by a voracious appetite), and obsession with discipline and orders earned him the nickname 'the Bull'. (DNB)

Allenby was very shortly afterward promoted field marshal and created first Viscount Allenby of Megiddo and Felixstowe in recognition of his successful military campaigning in the Middle East during the First World War and his role there as an able post-war military commander and colonial administrator.